SharePoint Framework – Part 3 (SPFx Key Features)

Please have a look on what is SPFx if you want to learn about basics of SPFx.

Key Features of SharePoint Framework

• Provides full support for client-side customization
  • The purpose of the SharePoint Framework is to make the client side customizations and official development model for SharePoint Developers.
  • Developers can create a client side customizations that are packed and deployed to SharePoint sites just like SharePoint solutions and SharePoint add-ins were in previous versions.
• Provide easy access to SharePoint data
  • These customizations also have easy access to SharePoint data using APIs, include over the SharePoint Framework.
  • But this is not mean, it will be limited access in just SharePoint data.
  • The client side solutions that can use any technology to access other data including the Microsoft Graph, Office Graph or other accessible APIs.
• Customizations run in current context
  • Components built using the SharePoint Framework are run in current context.
  • Unlike their predecessor “Add-ins” that ran within the context of an iFrame.
  • This means that not only will they load faster but they all run within the context of the current user and using the current connection of the browser.
  • The SharePoint Framework customizations are also rendered in the current normal page DOM. Not in iFrame.
  • Which eliminates the requirement but not the ability to host more involved customization another web site.
• Customizations responsive and accessible
  • Because the customizations are rendered in the current page DOM and not in an iFrame, it will not have same bang age associated with them as iFrames have.
  • One of the biggest benefits to this is, customizations will be responsive and accessible by nature.
• Development experience embraces web development stack
  • From the experience, Microsoft has elected to go with the very different development model for SharePoint Framework customizations.
  • Traditional SharePoint developers were used to using tools like Visual Studio to create SharePoint solutions or Add-ins.
  • With the SharePoint Framework Microsoft has elected to embraces and adopt that is commonly referred tool as modern development stack and tool chain.
  • This approach opens the platform opt to more developers.
  • Because it is not limited to Windows.
  • The tools are cross platform.
  • And you can use any text editor you preferred.
  • Microsoft open source tools are used to solve different parts of build tool chain from project scaffolding, building, serving, packaging all the way up to developing and deploying.
  • This includes tool Yomen, Gulp, Web Pack, run times like NODE, package managers like NPM and editors like Visual Studio Code.
• Customization work in classic, publishing and modern pages
  • When creating customizations in the SharePoint Framework, you want to make sure you are not excluding your users from using them in legacy SharePoint sites.
  • Another aspect of the SharePoint Framework is that the customizations you create will not work only in the new SharePoint modern pages but they will also work in traditional SharePoint classic Web Part pages as well as publishing pages.
• First Party & Third Party
  • First and third party – What does this mean?
  • The term third party refers to – the people like you and me. Who are creating the things to deploy and run within the SharePoint.
  • In the past things like SharePoint Add-ins were third party only customization tools.
  • Microsoft did not used Add-ins to create things for SharePoint. They just make the changes in their product.
  • The down side of this is – Microsoft the provider and host of the development model is not easy to tools they gave us to extend the product.
  • The term first party refers to – the people like Microsoft.
  • Not only they created and host the extensibility model but they also use the extensibility model to extend SharePoint.
  • When they want to build a new component or customization in SharePoint – They will be using SharePoint Framework. What is the mean for us?
  • They are clearly taking the strong dependency on their own extensibility model
  • So, they will be able to leverage the same benefits it provides that we use for our customization.

Next post will gives an idea on what are the development tools and libraries required.